Mosaicking over an ugly old window...animated!

Here's a very brief version of the install in animated gif form. This is my first animated gif!  Pretty exciting for me, excuse the gushing.  Thank you gickr.com for this fun free photoplay.  

Below, here is the swatches laid out on their plastic covered foam boards ready to install>>

Once the glue dried on the backs of the mesh, you can flip the whole swatch over and add the adhesive caulk.  It's best to try to get adhesive on just about every piece.  I used Loctite brand caulk for exterior use.  Carefully lift the swatch up and slowly press into place.  Wipe any excess caulk that comes up and over the surface of the glass with a finger or rag.  Keep your mosaic safe from rain until it's completely dry (24 hours or so).  Then it's ready to grout! 

Mosaicking over an ugly window~

What do you do when you have a super ugly window that you don't use?  This one was covered over on the inside to create a sound proof music room.  You can see the foam glued to the other side.  Super ugly.  I (of course) opted to mosaic over it.  With some clear silicone based adhesive I attached my swatches of stained glass mosaic that I had a few days before glued to fiberglass mesh.  You can do this too!  I was a little surprised how easy this was.  I made 4 swatches about 19" x 15" and then filled in around the mounted swatches.

Efflorescence: The grouters nightmare!

You make a beautiful mosaic, grout it, and then the next day there is white powdery streaks running down off of the grout.  What a mess!  What is this white stuff?  How do I get rid of it??  The white stuff is called efflorescence.  It happens most often when you apply grout in moist and cool conditions.  In my case, I grouted between rains when it was foggy but dry.  The fountain showed no signs of white streaks and was sent out on a truck.  A few days later I went down to do finishing touches on it and saw this:

Those lighter streaks are efflorescence coming off of the grout on the dragonfly mosaic.  If this happens to you, don't panic!  Head over to the cleaning section of your local drug store and pick up some Lime Away .  I'm not sure if other Calcium removing products work, but If they contain similar ingredients they should. Efflorescence is basically Calcium that is leached out of the cement by the grout and surrounding moisture. Pat the white areas with a Lime Away soaked paper towel while wearing gloves.  Better yet, just follow the package directions! This case was stubborn and took several passes but finally came off.

Incoming Help: wear gloves!

 All better now!

Settings>>Comments>>Stab

I just figured out (when my friend told me) how to set up my blog so that I will get notified if someone posts a comment. Jeez, it's only been a blog for like 4 years (!!) Well now, if you comment, I will get an email and can comment back. How's that for modern action? I tried to find this feature many times before and because of this, I will say blogger is not user friendly (can't find the underline feature...)in this area. They have a comments section (useless) and a "settings" section under which you will find the other "comments" section where you will have to (again) put in your email. Shouldn't this be the default? Sheesh.